New Britain, CT -- Central Connecticut State announced on Wednesday that Tom Masella has been named the new head football coach. Masella, who becomes the 11th head coach in school history, joins the Blue Devils after spending the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Massachusetts.

"We are pleased to welcome Tom to the Central Connecticut State University family and are excited to bring his experience and winning attitude to our football program," said school president Richard Judd. "He has a proven record as a successful coach, and he exemplifies the winning spirit that will reinvigorate Blue Devil football."

At UMass, Masella helped lead the Minutemen to the 2003 Atlantic-10 championship and a berth in the Division I-AA playoffs. The team finished 11th in the final Sports Network I-AA poll with a 10-3 overall record.

"My family and I are extremely excited about the opportunity ahead of us at Central Connecticut," Masella said Wednesday. "I am familiar with the football program having faced Central Connecticut in each of the last two seasons, and I know there is a solid foundation of players within the program. I know we can win here, and my staff and I will work as hard as we can to put a winning football team on the field every Saturday."

Prior to his stint with Massachusetts, Masella spent three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech. Prior to Louisiana Tech, Masella was the assistant head coach and secondary coach at the University of Connecticut in 1998.

Masella spent the 1996 and 1997 seasons as the head coach at Boston University where he had been an assistant from 1990-94. He left the Terriers when the university disbanded its football program. Prior to being the head coach at Boston University, he was the first head coach at Fairfield University when it began its football program in 1995.